Georgia Bulldogs 23 for '23: No. 2 Sedrick Van Pran
SEC Media Days are completely behind us, and with that the focus is very quickly turning to the football field. Georgia players report for fall camp in less than a week, and we’re counting down the days with our look at who the most important Bulldogs might be.
As we’ve stated before, important can have different definitions. Some players’ importance for this season is based on their past performance and ability to repeat that this fall. For others, it’s about their potential and what living up to it would mean for Georgia and its chances at winning a third straight National Championship. Racing towards the finish, we’re now at No. 2 on our list of most important Bulldogs, center Sedrick Van Pran.
Sedrick Van Pran
Position: Center
Class: Junior
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 310 pounds
Hometown (High School): New Orleans, La. (Warren Easton)
It’s not often that you see a team captain decide to come back for another year in college. Typically, those players are talented enough to go pro. In the case of Georgia’s Sedrick Van Pran, he absolutely was, but according to him, it was all about ‘love for the G’ and his teammates when he announced his return this past spring.
Van Pran, a starter of 30 straight contests at center – also known as the entirety of Georgia’s run as back-to-back national champions – earned All-SEC honors in the preseason this year. He’ll without a doubt be on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy which goes to the top center in college football, and he’ll be a key piece – just as he has been the last two years – on a Georgia offensive line likely to compete for the Joe Moore Award.
Van Pran isn’t just a leader on the field. He’s also one off of it. Admitting that he’s the type that can turn quickly and snap on somebody – no pun intended coming from the center – that type of person to help hold teammates accountable is important. It’s also important that he helps whoever ends up as Georgia’s quarterback in the transition, being the closet to him at the line of scrimmage with every play starting in his hands.
While a center isn’t typically going to come in this high, there’s no arguing Van Pran’s importance, and he’s deserving of a spot near the top of this list. Watch for him to be not only one of the best Bulldogs this season, but one of College Football’s most important players to his team in the entirety of the country.
Know the Quote
“I think starting off, just from the selfish side, even though I hate talking about myself, it would have to be that I felt like I could gain more from coming back,” Van Pran told reporters at SEC Media Days when asked why it was he returned for his fourth year with the program. “But then when you start to think about the aspect of the University of Georgia, I really felt like I had a great opportunity to help my guys. And I think that’s what ultimately drove me back is I think that we had a great opportunity to be a good team, and I wanted to be a part of it and help try to lead the guys to a good season for us. I think that’s what it was and ultimately the connection that I felt with the guys in the locker room.”
Click here to find the complete rundown of our 23 for ’23 series
